June 3rd, 1888 - High Street
Edric Umbridge

With school out and her youngest sisters home- well everybody was home for once, Febby, though she loved her family dearly, could only take so much of a house full. And so, after asking one of their staff very nicely, Febby had procured a chaperon and was off to High Street to get out and get some fresh air. Last time she'd been wandering town she'd run into Mr. Bixby, though she doubted she could be as lucky twice, Febby was purely in this for the space.

It was beautiful out, the afternoon sun shining down on in spades, a refreshing breeze wafting by, leaving Febs already feeling better. In having no particular destination in mind, Febby was chatting amiably with her maid when out of nowhere, a loud crack rebounded on the street and suddenly her maid was nowhere to be found!

Startled, Febby ducked aside and that was when she saw it- her maid had been turned into a piglet!. A howl of a laugh echoed the crack and February could only catch a swirl of dark robes down the alley nearby. Dumbfounded, Febby reacted more quickly than she realized, grabbing the adorable little pink pig before it could run off. "Help!" She called, more panicked than anything else. Several people crowded around her and somebody said the aurors had been called, but Febby was too busy trying to hold a squirming piglet to hear much of anything!

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Random spells fired, woman in distress, piglet in equal distress. If Edric's had been a young auror, he would have sworn such a report was fabricated—or at the very least, exaggerated—but he'd apparated to Hogsmeade without much fuss. There wasn't anything to suggest that this was an attack, but he'd contemplated asking Connolly to come along simply to deal with the distressed woman (and then promptly decided no, that wouldn't be a good idea).

Upon making it to the scene, it didn't seem there was really much there to handle. There was no sign of the rogue spell-caster—only the distressed woman and her piglet. Is this what he became an auror for? Was it really?

"Miss. Please calm down, Miss," he softly hushed. "My name is Auror Edric Umbridge," he said, flashing his badge in her direction, "and I'm here to help you. I need you to tell me exactly what happened."

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— set by MJ! —

As Febby struggled to handle her maid-piglet, the gathered crowed either dissipating in disinterest or just standing there watching her twiddling their thumbs, her patience grew short. Somebody had called an Auror, though February rather thought Accidental Magic  may have been more useful- though it wasn't accidental it was quite on purpose, by the time the authorities arrived she was quite snippy.

"You calm down," She snapped. "Please tell me how I'm to remain calm while trying to contain a piglet that is in fact, my maid!" The look on her face was quite displeased and she knew she was being rude and rhetorical, but honestly she had no patience for men trying to treat her like a helpless woman.

With a huff, Febby stood and re-situated the squirming piglet to try and get her to relax. It was probably jarring for the poor dear and Febs understood that, but if she would just stay still. "We were walking-" She hissed when the piglet got a sharp toe right across her arm. "You stop it this instant." She warned, giving the critter a look. "Minding our own business when she was hit with a spell, obviously. The culprit took off down that alley." February motioned with her head across the street and scowled.

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   Cassius Lestrange

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It took everything in his power to prevent himself from snickering at her fussiness. Her maid? The pig? He redirected his gaze for a moment, hoping the amusement in his eyes wouldn't be so apparent.

"It's just transfiguration, I'm sure it's not—"

Her spiel continued on despite his attempts to speak over her, but her final words—which arguably should have been her first—caused him to take an immediate step int he direction of the fleeing culprit before he thought otherwise. He glanced back at her, and then down at the pig of a maid—literally.

"Which do you feel is more important: the catching of the culprit or the restoration of- well, her?" he asked with a cocked brow and a small motion of his hands over the piglet.

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— set by MJ! —

Narrowing her eyes at the auror before her who still hadn't proven to be useful, Febby sighed when he finally asked a legitimate question. "Catch the guy of course!" Honestly, was he new? That was obvious, wasn't it? She raised her eyebrows as if to say shouldn't you go deal with that?

"I feel as though this," She held up the less-squirmy-but-still-wiggling pig up as evidence. "Should probably be handled by the Magical Reversal Squad." She was pretty well-versed in transfiguration herself, but since she didn't know exactly what was cast, she should probably leave it to the professionals... probably.

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Edric raised his eyebrows in a similar fashion—almost a challenge.

"Unfortunately, legilimency is not a skill they teach in the training program. It would be quite a scandal to arrest the wrong gentleman, don't you think?" he questioned. "I'll need a description, and—well, was it even an attack, or might it be considered a rogue spell?"

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— set by MJ! —

The roll of her eyes was so severe she nearly lost sight of him for a moment. "I heard a loud crack, an equally loud laugh and then a swirl of dark robes down the alley, I didn't see a fa-" Febby didn't get to finish her sentence as the piglet jumped unexpectedly and took off down the alley the same direction the tentative suspect went.

"Oh no! Lydia come back!" Startled, she recovered quickly and scrambled to dash after the maid-pig herself, forgetting she probably should let the auror handle this.

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He was in the midst of mirroring her expression when the pig suddenly leaped from the young woman's arm. His eyes went wide, less from the shock of the piglet's escape—(it would have been far more shocking, and much more amusing, he thought, if it had grown wings and flown away)—and more from the woman's mad dash after it.

Merlin's beard.

Feeling completely ridiculous and even more exasperated, Edric took after the woman and her maid, who he'd now officially dubbed Miss Piggy. "Miss, please," he breathed as he finally caught up to her, catching her wrist between his fingers. "A young woman such as yourself has no business running through the streets- or, er, an alleyway in this case." They'd finally come to a halt, but no piglet—nor criminal—was in sight.

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— set by MJ! —

Though it was probably terribly unladylike, Febby had always been rather athletic and so she hiked up her skirts and sprinted after the pig. She lost sight but could hear squealing and turned left drastically, hesitating for just a moment when she felt the tug of a hand on her wrist. She didn't hear his explanation and in reflex swung around with her other hand, fist closed, for a pretty impressive punch, all things considered.

February yanked her other hand free of his grasp and took off again. Clearly he wasn't going to be of much help if all he could do was tell her she was too much of a lady to actually handle the situation! She heard the scuttling of little piggy feet and turned down another alley, catching sight of a curly tail around the corner again. "Lydia! Come back here!" She hollered, well and truly exasperated now.

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   Edric Umbridge

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Before he could even comprehend her reaction, her first was on his face and she was off once more. Wide-eyed and exasperated, he stared after her for a moment—both in shock and in amazement—before realizing he should probably follow after her. He took off once again, and fortunately it didn't take too long to catch up to her.

"There's no reason to smack me, woman," he huffed as they were stopped once more. This time, however, it was not because of his own efforts, but because of a giant wall preventing them from continuing forward.

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— set by MJ! —

Well, he was persistent, she would give him that. "A smack hmm?" She smiled almost dangerously at him. "Why don't you come a little closer and let me smack you again, or you could, you know, help me." It was a good thing her hands were balled up in her skirts otherwise she would have seriously considered punching him again. Though frankly, her knuckles did hurt from that, just a little. He had a hard face.

"She's got to be here somewhere then." Febby looked around, there was a lot of empty crates and boxes lining the narrow alley. Honestly! This was getting more frustrating by the minute. Febs moved a few things around hoping to scare Lydia out of hiding, if that's what she was doing, when she noticed a gap big enough for the piglet to get through at the junction of the walls. "She must have gone through," She pointed to the hole. "Hoist me up, I'll see if she's on the other side." She demanded without thinking.

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   Edric Umbridge

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Expressive had never been the proper adjective to describe Edric as, but this woman had managed to keep one on his face for the past ten minutes. It was... both endearing and annoying, really, and definitely came with its fair share of pain. He lifted a hand to rub his jaw, which he was fairly sure was bright red underneath the hair there.

"Forgive me, for I had no idea my efforts to assist you would be met with such violence," he pressed, beginning to assist her by shifting around the empty boxes and crates. Her next request, however, was shocking enough to where he nearly tripped over a pile of rubble. "Lift you!?" he exclaimed. "That would hardly be appropriate," he added in protest. There were cases where lifting a woman was appropriate, but this was definitely not one of them. She was not injured, nor was she stuck anywhere.

"There must be another way. I insist."

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— set by MJ! —

Febby cast him a look of pure annoyance. At this point he was really just not being any kind of helpful, other than slowing her down. "How else would you like a young girl to greet a man she doesn't know when he grabs her by the wrist in a back alley? I was raised to take care of myself." She only had one brother, but he was her twin so she'd started practicing punching him in the womb. And she wasn't really raised to go punching people on the street but he didn't need to know that.

"The faster you help me catch the pig, the sooner you'll be shot of me." Febs pointed out with a raise of her eyebrows and a slow grin. Maybe she could appeal to his practical side. Or maybe she'd annoyed him to the point of giving up, who knew. "Or you can go the long way around and we'll trap her between us, but who knows if you'll even find the right dead end in this mess."

Oh so casually she nodded her head upward to suggest they do it her way. All he had to do was give her a ten finger boost and she could see over the wall and he could see up her skirts for all she cared at this point. All he would see was petticoat anyway! Wouldn't it be handy if she'd figured out her animagus transformation by now and then she could just scoot through the hole after Lydia, providing she was something small enough that was. Ugh! How handy that would have been!

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Argumentative was a good word to describe her, and she definitely had a great deal of nerve. "I was summoned to the scene because of your piglet of a maid," he refuted. "And I'm an auror—you're a silly girl if you believed I'd stay there while you pursued her," he added, feigning a tone of annoyance. He wasn't really annoyed at this point; the banter was enough to fuel him, and it was decidedly more exciting than finishing the paperwork he'd been doing when he'd received word that he needed to be in Hogsmeade.

With a final sigh, he hesitantly moved towards her—maybe even too hesitantly, bordering dramatic—to make a point that he wasn't about to attack her or whatever ill intentions she believed he had.

"C'mon now, give me your foot," he said, moving into the position so she could step onto his locked fingers.

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   February Umbridge

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— set by MJ! —

Oh excellent. It appeared she had at least won him over a little bit with her stubbornness. Or maybe he really did want to be shot of her. Either weren't too objectionable, she supposed. At least he was being proactive now! Febs was marginally less frustrated now that he was cooperating. Grinning, Febby grabbed her skirts and stepped into the boost with as much momentum as she could. Once she was up, Febby placed her flat palms on the bricks atop the wall wall and fully hoisted herself onto the top as easily as she would have mounted a broom.

From her new perch, Febby surveyed the alley on the other side of the wall and to her pleasant surprise found Pig Lydia entangled in some rope and very stuck where she was. "I see her, she's stuck! I'll grab her real quick." She cast her new partner-in-pig catching a quick grin and before he could protest swung her leg over the wall and dropped to the alley below.

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He made a point to avert his eyes from her, though glanced up every few moments to make sure she wasn't in danger of scraping herself up or taking a tumble. (But obviously she wasn't, as a second after their eyes met she'd hoisted herself completely over the wall and onto the other side.)

He drew in a sharp breath the moment he heard her feet hit the floor. "Miss, please be careful," he insisted, reaching for his own wand with the intention of apparating towards her. He then heard another voice—a distinctly male voice—from the other side of the brick wall and immediately felt his heartbeat speed up.

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— set by MJ! —